Leadership

Get to know the Elara Caring leadership team.

G. Scott Herman

Chief Executive Officer

G. Scott Herman is the Chief Executive Officer for Elara Caring, where he also serves on the Board of Directors.

With over 30 years in health care and 22 years in home healthcare, Scott has led some of the nation’s premiere home-based programs including North Mississippi Home Care, where he served as a health system executive when North Mississippi became only the second health system to receive the Malcolm Baldridge Award for Quality. Scott also served as the CEO of Via Christi Home, President of Harden Home Health and Hospice, Founding Executive with Accelion, and most recently CEO of National Home Health Care and Jordan Health Services.

Scott serves on numerous boards and frequently advises on the homecare industry. He holds a BSN from Kansas Newman, an EMICT from the University of Kansas and served early in his career as a flight Nurse/Paramedic, Emergency Room Nurse as well as Home Health and Hospice clinician. Scott has been married to Kimberly for 33 years, and they have three children and two grandchildren.

Eric Slusser

Chief Financial Officer

Eric Slusser is Chief Financial Officer at Elara Caring.

Eric most recently served as EVP and CFO of Express Scripts until November 2017. Prior to that, he served as EVP, CFO, Treasurer and executive team member at GentivaHealth Services, Inc, Before Gentiva, Eric was EVP, CFO and executive team member for CenteneCorporation, and EVP of Finance, CAO, Controller and senior executive team member at Cardinal Health. Eric has also previously served at MCI, AES, Sprint PCS, and Arthur Andersen.

He has an MBA from the University of Missouri, a BA from Washburn University, and is a CPA.

Kathy Poland

Chief Operating Officer

Kathy Poland is the Chief Operating Officer at Elara Caring.

Kathy brings to her role over 21 years of experience in Human Resources. She joined Jordan Health Services in 2002 and served as Senior Vice President of Operations. She previously served as Vice President of Human Resources working closely with the operations team leading a variety of initiatives that had a positive impact on operations, including staffing model design and implementation in addition to structuring and leading an effective integration process that permits the organization to blend newly acquired companies into the fold of operations timely and seamlessly.

Prior to serving at Jordan Health Services, Kathy worked in various human resource positions with Tetra Tech EMI, an environmental consulting firm located in Dallas, Texas. She earned her B.A from Amberton University.

Dave Marchand

Chief Information Officer

David Marchand is Chief Information Officer for Elara Caring.

Dave has over 30 years of experience in the technology industry, designing and building innovative and transformative solutions for the healthcare, financial services, defense, aerospace, petroleum, travel, and telecommunications industries. Dave joined National Home Health Care in 2017 and previously served as CIO for Jordan Health Services since 2013. Dave initially engaged with Jordan to solidify the company’s security architecture, streamline and integrate various applications, and most recently advance Jordan’s proprietary ADL application and services model.

Prior to joining Jordan, Dave held senior level positions at several companies including President/CEO of Precision Genetics, Chief Information and Technology Officer at Accelion, and Chief Technology and Strategy Officer for Dell/Perot Systems.

Lester Simmons

Chief Administrative Officer

Lester Simmons is the Chief Administrative Officer at Elara Caring.

Les brings over 20 years of experience in Human Resources Leadership and has led Human Resources functions on five continents. His broad-based experience includes employee relations, labor relations, organizational development, recruiting, compliance, compensation and benefits. His prior experience with Fortune 500 companies includes the roles of Vice President of Human Resources at Tronox in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Senior Human Resources Advisor at Kerr McGee Oil and Gas, Senior Human Resources Manager at Johnson Controls in Norman, Oklahoma, Human Resources Manager at PepsiCo Food Systems in Wichita, Kansas, and also Director of Human Resources at SCCS Home Health and Hospice in Wichita, Kansas. He initially joined Jordan Health Services as Vice President of Human Resources in January 2015.

Les obtained a B.S from Wichita State University, and a Bronze Star for Valor as a Captain in the United States Army.

Caroline Henderson

Chief Sales Officer

Caroline Henderson is the Chief Sales Officer at Elara Caring.

Before joining Elara, Caroline spent the majority of her career at Amedisys, Inc, where she served as Account Executive, Sales Trainer, Area Vice President, Vice President of Business Development and the Senior Vice President of Business Development and Marketing. In her most recent role, she was responsible for all sales training, marketing strategy, sales tools, CRM utilization, acquisition integration, and creation of all marketing campaigns and collateral for home health.

Caroline holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama. She resides with her husband and two children.

Jeff Bonham

President, Personal Care Services

Jeff Bonham is President of Personal Care Services at Elara Caring.

Jeff brings over 25 years of health care experience, including operational experience in personal care, home health and hospice operations and financial management. He was previously Founding Executive with Advance Healthcare Consulting, LLC, an operational consulting company focused on assisting post-acute care providers and a co-founder of Valor Home Health Care, LLC. He also served in operational and finance positions with Auxi Healthcare, Inc. and Administrator of Home Health Care for Williamson County Programs on Aging in Herrin, IL.

Jeff earned a B.S from Bradley University and holds an MBA from the University of Nevada.

Patricia Bradford

Chief of Staff

Pat Bradford is the Chief of Staff at Elara Caring.

Pat is an experienced Human Capital executive with more than 30 years in the profession. She has an excellent track record in Human Capital management in startup environments as well as Fortune 500 organizations. She has led the Human Capital function in several industries, including for naviHealth. She also has proven experience building a Human Resource organization in a high growth company. Her experience allows her to effectively influence the delicate balance of employee and company needs. Pat joined National Home Health in August of 2016.

Pat earned her B.A in Communications from the University of Denver. She has earned professional certifications in HR and Labor Relations.

Christine Weir

Chief Compliance Officer

Christine Weir is the Chief Compliance Officer at Elara Caring.

Christine has over 32 years of healthcare experience, having worked in healthcare compliance, clinical management, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance. She joined Great Lakes Caring Home and Hospice in 2004, where she served as COO and Vice President of Education. She was responsible for developing, facilitating, and ensuring the delivery of training strategies, auditing and monitoring activities and developing initiatives that enhance adherence to compliance across all functions of the enterprise. Christine is currently active in the Michigan Home Care & Hospice Association (MHHA) as well as a member of the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA). She is also a board member for the Professional Advisory of NGS (Provider Outreach and Education Advisory Group).